1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a handle device for carrying shopping bags and, more particularly, to a handle device for carrying two or more shopping bags, each having handle loops or apertures centrally located along the upper edge of elongated sides.
2. Summary of the Background Art
Traditionally, shopping bags have been given to customers by retail stores to carry items purchased within the stores, or have been sold or otherwise provided for use by customers within shopping malls. Additionally, some customers bring their own shopping bags to fill with purchased items. Typically, a shopping bag is formed with a pair of sides, and with a pair of ends, substantially narrower than the sides, extending between a closed bottom and an open top, with loops or openings, centrally located along the upper edge of each of the sides, being provided so that the bag can be easily carried. However, a shopping trip may often result in the accumulation of several shopping bags, which are difficult to carry simultaneously. Thus, what is needed is a device providing a handle for conveniently carrying a number of such shopping bags.
A different type of bag has been developed for use in stores, such as grocery stores and discount stores, where shopping carts are generally used to carry items to be purchased within the store and to carry purchased items from the store to the parking lot. This type of bag, which is made from a very thin sheet of flexible plastic, typically has an open top, a closed bottom, a pair of sides, and a pair of ends, substantially narrower than the sides, and a loop extending upward from each of the ends. The loops are provided so that the bag can be held open within a frame at the checkout station to load purchased items into the bag. Usually, the loops are then tied together to seal the bag. The loops are not designed to be used as handles for carrying the bag, as a number of the bags are typically carried from the store within a shopping cart.
The patent literature includes a number of examples of devices providing handles for carrying one or more of these plastic bags by means of the loops provided at the ends of the bag. Since the loops are at the narrow ends of the bag, each of the devices includes a bag loop support bar extending parallel to the handle. When both of the loops of a bag are hooked over the support bar, the elongated sides of the bag extend parallel to the handle, so that the bag and handle together form a package that is ergonomically acceptable for carrying in the conventional way, by a person's side. Suitcases, briefcases, and other packages designed to be carried in this way all have handles centrally located to extend parallel to their elongated sides. Devices having support bars or hooks extending parallel to carrying handles, for the attachment of loops of bags over the support bars or hooks, are shown and described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,507,542 and 5,615,921, and in U.S. Design Pat. Nos. D458,130 and D469,015. What is needed is a device having a handle and a carrying member arranged so that it be placed to extend through the loops or handle openings of a shopping bag having such loops or handle openings extending along its elongated sides, with the handle and carrying member being arranged so that the handle extends parallel to the carrying member.
The patent literature also includes a number of examples of devices to be fastened over the portions of a shopping bag sides extending above a central apertures within the sides to provide a larger or more comfortable handle than that provided by the portions of the sides themselves. Such devices are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,846,519, 5,881,432, and 5,487,582. However, such devices are not readily adaptable for carrying multiple shopping bags simultaneously, and are somewhat more difficult to use than a device having a carrying member that can merely be inserted through the openings in loops.